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Your dog's nutrition is important for a healthy & happy life. petMD experts help you to know what to feed your dog, how much food to feed, and the differences in dog foods, so your dog gets optimum nutrition.

Nutrition Nuggets is the newest offshoot of petMD's Dog Nutrition Center. Each week Dr. Coates will use her expertise and wisdom to blog about the intricacies of dog nutrition.

We’ve talked a lot on Nutrition Nuggets about how a properly balanced diet is essential to good canine health and how tweaking nutrient ratios can help with disease prevention and management. Well … here’s something new. A diet that is relatively low in protein and high in fat can... READ MORE

You are probably familiar with the concept of “good” and “bad” fats as it applies to human food. Fats are described as being “bad” when their inclusion in the diet is associated with abnormally high blood cholesterol levels and an increased risk of heart attack or... READ MORE

I am on vacation this week. Rather than leave you hanging while I’m catching up on some much needed R & R, I thought I’d channel Linda Richman of Saturday Night Live “Coffee Talk” fame.
“Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a [link to a] topic. Discuss!”
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I had a funny experience with my six year old daughter at a pet supply store a couple of months ago. We were looking for a “chewie” for our dog. He has severe inflammatory bowel disease so is on a strict, limited antigen diet. All the usual treats are off limits, but he still likes to chew,... READ MORE

The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but the condition of a dog’s coat and skin give a better indication of his overall nutritional status. The skin is the largest organ of the body and when it is not getting the nutrition it needs, problems are readily observed.
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Whenever I have an appointment with a large or giant breed puppy, I bring up the subject of large breed puppy foods. Puppies that are going to grow up to be big dogs are predisposed to developmental orthopedic diseases (DOD) like osteochondritis dissecans and hip and elbow dysplasia. (I use an adult... READ MORE

Helping dogs lose weight is not easy, but sometimes it seems harder than it ought to be. I’ve designed many a weight loss plan for overweight pets. I try to be very specific — feed "X" number of calories, which equates to so many cups of a specific food per day.
I outline how... READ MORE

Have you heard of the term "circadian metabolism?"
I just ran across it skimming through a study that looked into whether or not the timing of a mouse’s meals had an effect on its body weight (more on this later). Essentially, animals have an endogenous clock within their bodies that... READ MORE

JENNIFER COATES, DVM

... graduated with honors from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999. In the years since, she has practiced veterinary medicine in Virginia, Wyoming, and Colorado. She is the author of several books about veterinary medicine and animal care, including the Dictionary of Veterinary Terms, Vet-Speak Deciphered for the Non-Veterinarian .

Jennifer also writes short stories that focus on the strength and importance of the human-animal bond and freelance articles relating to a variety of animal care and veterinary topics. Dr. Coates lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with her husband, daughter, and pets.